To celebrate the 2015 season we are once again offering ATP members a special Promo Code.
Go to our website at: http://www.CaladiumBulbs4Less.... and after you've made your selections you will be asked if you have a Promo Code on our check-out page..
Enter Promo Code ATP15-10 and you will receive 10% OFF your order. Promo Code is good through Sunday Jan. 18th, 2015 and is good for Anything on our website with the exception of items in the Gift Shop category!!!

If you encounter any problems,
Please give us a call at: 863-465-BULB(2852) and we'll be more than happy to assist you.

I too have ordered from Bill (caladiums4less) a few times ... and they are always wonderful bulbs that produce beautiful plants! I'm so glad this thread popped up again because it's a reminder for me to get my order together!

Bill, When do you expect to start shipping? I want to place an order but I'm going to be out of town until January 21st, so I'd prefer shipment sometime after that date if possible ... or shipping can even wait until March or April if that's more convenient for you. I may be away again the first week of March and also for a week during the month of May so I need to coordinate and get an idea of expected shipping times. I can go ahead and place the order at your website and make payment now if it's not too much trouble for you to put a hold on shipping.

I'll ship them whenever you want me to. I'm not even thinking about shipping anytime soon. It'll be mid-Feb before I start thinking about it and that depends on what Mother Nature''s doing. The day I can predict that will be the day I quit selling caladiums because I'll be rich...lol... I do know if I hear the term "Polar Vortex" one more time I'll want to shoot myself...lolol...
I wouldn't plant them until the first of April in Daytona. Unless you wanted to start them off indoors which we don't need to.....

Thanks so much for the quick response ... I'm heading over to your site to place my order right now! I won't be planting until probably the second week of April when I will put them directly into the ground.

Bill at Caladium Bulbs 4 Less is a legitimate seller. I've ordered from his company a few times over the years and I know other ATP members have also so there must have been some glitch or something when you placed your order. Are you trying to contact him through tree mail here on ATP? It's probably better to contact him via his e-mail address that he listed in his first post which is: [email protected]

Hmm ... I hope Bill is okay, I've heard about many folks being down with a bad flu bug that's been going around! I'd say if you don't hear anything in another day or so, give them a call at 863-465-BULB(2852)

Kate, I also ordered from Bill the last two years and got wonderful bulbs, and I won some in the photo contest last fall, too. But to be honest I'm not sure I got confirmation from my order, either. I ordered this year's bulbs before New Years so I'll have to go back and check. * edited to add* I did get a confirmation e-mail from them.

He said above that he is trying to launch a new website, so that may explain a glitch or two.

But, I wouldn't worry. You will get a big box of fat sassy bulbs some time in late Feb. or March. Have faith.

Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill

I've been super, super busy the past couple of weeks and to be honest I haven't checked ATP lately. I'm having some family issues too that aren't any fun. We had to tell or should I say ask my mother to surrender her drivers license the other day. That was by far the hardest conversation I've ever had to have. Have any of you guys had to do this and if so, how did you handle it?

Kate - I'm in my office pretty much every day now from about 9 to 4. I'm gonna have to check my spam folder because I haven't seen an email from you, sorry!!
We'll start shipping orders that are staying here in FL(from Central FL to the Keys) in another couple of weeks. It's still wayyyyy to early to be planting caladium bulbs, even here in FL

Bill, so sorry to hear about the family troubles; I know how overwhelming it can be when it comes to elderly parents.

My mother in law drove until she was 90 when we found out that she'd been getting lost going to her church which she'd been a member of for 50 years. She lived about 40 minutes from us and we were visiting one day when she told us that she had a recent incident when going to church and suddenly didn't know where she was! She pulled into a business along the road and asked them for directions to the street where the church was located (luckily she remembered the street name!) She apparently got home okay but we didn't hear about the issue until a month or so later and one of her neighbors mentioned to me that it had happened numerous times! Both of her sons talked to her and she made the decision to stop driving; soon after she moved into assisted living right around the corner from us where she remained until she passed at the age of 97. My husband brought her car to our house where it sat for a few months because she "just wasn't ready to sell it yet". Her drivers license was coming up for renewal so I took her to the DL office; the only requirement was an eye test and they let me go with her instead of staying in the lobby. I stood in the back corner of the room to be out of the way and there were folks at the counter looking through the machines taking the eye test. I heard the examiner say to my mother in law "Mrs. K, can you read line B for me?" Then I heard her ask again, then she asked her to read line A. I could tell by the expression that something was up and then the examiner motioned for me to come to the corner of the counter where she asked me if there were any problems they should know about. I told her that I was just her daughter in law but that none of us (family) felt she should be driving any longer because she'd been getting lost. The examiner said she needed to talk to her supervisor who came out and asked my MIL a few additional questions one being "Mrs. K, do you know who the president of the United States is?" She had to ask twice and there was silence and the second time my mother in law replied "Well, of course I do!" Then there was a moment of silence and the supervisor asked "Well, Mrs. K, can you tell me who the president is?" To which my MIL replied, "Well of course, it's Harry Truman!" Everyone in the room turned and looked wide eyed and a few smiled. The supervisor called me over and said that under Florida law they could not refuse to issue a drivers license to anyone unless they had an order from a medical professional and I said well, she really should not be driving. So, the supervisor went back and told my MIL that for renewal she would also need to take the driving test and my mother in law said "Okay, I can do a driving test." My mother in law was an itty bitty little thing, not even 5' tall and I immediately said "Mother, remember we aren't in your little car, we're in your son's huge pick up truck and she said "Oh my, I can't drive that big truck, I guess we'll have to go get my car and come back!" The supervisor winked at me and gave me a thumbs up and then handed my mother in law a book and told her she could study it and when she was ready to come on back. That little book sat on an end table in her living room for quite awhile and she never mentioned it but my husband a couple of times would say "Mother, did you get a chance to look through and study that book yet?" She always said no that she just hadn't had time. I told her that she didn't really need to drive because I was always taking her to the store, bank, dr. appt's., etc. and she said yes, that's right and she told my husband to go ahead and sell her car. Whew! It was funny though; I took her to get a Florida ID card which looks identical to a drivers license but it's for identification purposes only and states that on the front. She made me promise not to tell anyone at the ALF where she lived that she didn't have a drivers license anymore!

It is so difficult for the elderly when they lose their independence. Many know that they should not be driving any longer but it's very hard for them to admit it. My friends mother did not want to give up her car or driving but major health issues ended up forcing it to happen. I live in a community with many, many elderly and some are still wonderful drivers while others really should not be on the roads, even in our gated subdivision! The main road into our subdivision is a four lane divided highway and of course the folks on the highway turning into the neighborhood have the right of way. I've been screamed at a couple of times by the same old man who is coming out of the subdivision to cross the highway going in the opposite direction and I'm trying to turn in. He blasts his horn and waves his arms and yells thinking he has the right of way when he has a stop sign. I'm surprised there aren't more accidents ... wish they'd put a stop light up but the city has refused.

Ok ... just realized how I'm rambling here so I will stop.

Can't wait to plant caladium bulbs in a couple of months and see those pretty leaves emerge!

Since Bill asked for others to share his experience I don't think he minds your rambling, Lin, and friends of ours had to do this too with their elderly father, and yes, it's very tough. Bill, hang in there....
And btw I have already planted my Caladium bulbs and their noses are peeking through the mulch.

My sympathies too, Bill. Good on you for taking on this difficult thing. More people should do it, as we well know in Florida there are way too many older drivers who should give it up sooner than they do.

I had to be the tough guy with my mother, on the driver's license issue. My mother lived up in Canada and I would go visit every few months. My siblings didn't know about her problems, since they lived nearby and never drove anywhere with her. I started making it a point to have her drive me to the grocery store, same one she'd been shopping at for years and years. She never got lost, but her eyesight was failing badly, and you know, she just didn't realize how much she wasn't seeing (understandable, when you think about it). Just like when your hearing is failing and you don't miss what you don't hear.

We were driving to the store on my 'test run' one day and she passed very close to some people on bicycles, parents and a little girl. I said to Mum, "Gee, you sure passed close to those people in the bikes" and when she said "What bikes . . " I knew it was time. When we got home and sat down for tea, I said "Mum, you aren't really seeing well enough to drive" of course she scoffed at me, but when I said "How would you feel if you had hit that little girl on the bike?" she really started thinking about it.

Luckily, her eye doctor was also a family friend who I had known well for many years. Her eye exam with him was due, so I made an appointment, and also called him before we came to his office. I said "It's time Mum stopped driving, can you help me with this?" and explained the incident. Bless him, he wrote the letter and gently broke the news to Mum himself.

I think this is the first plan of attack to try - get her doctor on board and ask him to tell her to stop. It's much easier for your parents to accept a thing like that from a doctor (who is much more of an 'authority figure' to them than their child is).

Looking forward to my new Caladiums, as well. The ones I planted in the fall were fabulous, and lasted through Christmas.

Elaine

"Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." –Winston Churchill